And now for something completely different.

I have lived in Cardiff for 5 years now, and this little shop around the corner from me has seen about 9 different estate agents over that time, they were either never open and/or disappeared after 6 months.

I usually refrain from writing about places close to home but I just have to mention the quaint little café that has replaced those “doomed from the start” estate agents. Finally the shop has a real purpose. The Bubble Cafe. In my opinion this little shop really needed to have something better on offer than a closed estate agents, and a café is just perfect.

The shop only has a small space to offer but these new guys have managed to squeeze in a variety of comfy chairs and sofas to relax in without actually feeling like you’re a sardine, which is always a good thing if you ask me. The atmosphere is a relaxed affair mixed with delicious decor of browns and reds which just add to the comfy cosy nature they were going for. Aside from all the good points my only issue is the music, we all know I hate pop trash and the radio so I tried to tune it out. As the majority of people like this pop shite I am sure the music is more than adequate for the customer base. Some nice easy listening music would be my preference, but we can’t all get what we want. Maybe some Cat Stevens would do the trick.

I have been a couple of times now, the first was just to grab a takeaway coffee which was damn tasty and hit the spot. While waiting for my coffee I tasted a free sample of the home made triple chocolate brownie. You know I bought one after that. tasty does not do it justice, the gooey chocolatey goodness will have you coming back for more all the time. The free samples seem to be on offer every day too so I have to force myself not to grab anymore or I could devour them all and end up fatter than i already am.

So today I decided to come round and actually have a sit down cup of tea and grab a BLT to go with it, as well as to write up the first draft of this post. Service was friendly and speedy, the sandwich was delicious and filled the gaping hole in my belly.

The staff all came across as friendly and eager to help you out, add this to the relaxed atmosphere and you really do have a coffee shop that reaches you on a personal level, and provides you with a better service than any of the big named coffee shops that are sprawled through Cardiff.

I highly recommend this place, even if you are just grabbing a takeout coffee. The prices will leave you with plenty of change in your pocket and a nice warm BLT (among a wide range of offerings) filled belly. Go there, drink, eat and say hi to the staff.

Check out the website and see what’s on offer for your munchable delights and thirst quenching drinks.

The Bubble Cafe

84 Monthermer Road, Roath, Cardiff, CF24 4QY

The Bubble Cafe

Just had a phone call regarding some potential future job prospects. The young lady had a lovely Northern Irish accent. Long gone are the days of my own NI accent as I have been in Wales far too long, but listening to that accent brings home so many memories. It has to be one of the sexiest accents ever (not from a bloke though).

I could listen to it for hours.

Ahhhh

I wathed the live take off of the last ever shuttle mission this afternoon. It took off around 16:30 UK time (or thereabouts) and was a sight to behold. It always amazes me how a machine that big and heavy can be thrust into space in less than 3 minutes. Even though I know the science behind the take off, I still sit in awe at the achievements mankind can make when we put our minds to it.

Having said all that, even here in the UK i felt a pang of regret as that shuttle took off, knowing it is the last ever launch. What have we come to when our exploration of space and knowledge comes to an end to favour a war we should not be fighting?

Sadly the Americans think it more prudent to spend NASAs yearly budget on a few days of war.

Heres to you NASA, and all that wish to travel through space in peace.

I had planned on writing up a small tute on how to get Airprint working on Ubuntu linux, but my good friend SDBillin has already done it. So instead of hashing it out here I am just going to link to his page.

SDBillins Airprint on Ubuntu

You should be aware that AirPrint, the wireless printing technology that has been introduced with the latest version of iOS, was originally intended to work over shared printers connected to Mac and Windows as well.

However, this functionality was scrapped in the public release. Consequently, AirPrint on iOS 4.2.1 only works over certain models of HP printers.

Nevertheless, if your workspace contains only a shared printer, the step-by-step instructions provided below will help you  to re-enable AirPrint on Windows 7:

• You will need the latest version of iTunes on your Windows system. If you do not have it installed yet, download iTunes 10.1 before you proceed.
• Click here to download the AirPrint files. Extract the zipped version to a folder named ‘AirPrint‘ on your desktop. This folder will contain three files – airprint.exe, libairprint.dll and Xpdfprint.dll
• If you are on a 32-bit computer, move this folder from the desktop to "C:\Program Files\". Users on a 64-bit computer will have to instead move the folder to "C:\Program Files(x86)\"
• From the desktop screen, go to Start -> Run and type CMD. Press the return key to continue
• Enter the following commands in the command window that appears. Please Note : Enter the commands as-is. Remember to insert a space after the ‘=’ symbol.

32-bit Windows

• sc.exe create AirPrint binPath= “C:\Program Files\AirPrint\airprint.exe -s” depend= “Bonjour Service” start= auto
• sc.exe start AirPrint

64-bit Windows

• sc.exe create AirPrint binPath= “C:\Program Files (x86)\AirPrint\airprint.exe -s” depend= “Bonjour Service” start= auto
• sc.exe start AirPrint

• The airprint.exe application will now be launched. If you are prompted by the Windows Firewall, choose to ‘Unblock‘ the application. If you do not get a prompt, you will have to do this manually, like I had to. Ask in the comments if you have trouble with this.
• Configure the printer settings so that it is set to the Shared mode on both the printer settings as well as on the network settings. DOMAIN USERS – Set the security so that Everyone can at least print.
• You will be prompted for the Admin username and password the first time you launch AirPrint from your iDevice. (open an email, click the arrow and select print to access the AirPrint settings) Enter the credentials to enable wireless printing. NOTE TO DOMAIN USERS– This is the local admin username and password of the machine, not the domain admin account.

You are done. You should be able to print from your iPhone via AirPrint to any printer connected to your Windows PC. Please let me know how it goes in the comments.